Survive
by AlcatrazDGold
Summary: A Human Militia Pilot and their Titan are forced to survive a post invaded earth they do not recognize. They must overcome the constant threat of the machines and avoid being hunted by YoRHa agents as they attempt to uncover not only the truth about what happened to humanity in the years they missed but about the Androids, the Machines that now inhabit the planet and so much more.
1. Chapter 1: Survive

**A New Objective - Chapter 1**

 **/_\**

 **[Operation Unholy Fury - 21:32 - Frontier - Destroy the New Genesis Super Weapon]**

A blazing, devastated ship smashed into the ground, violently shaking the land across the battlefield. IMC, Militia, Titans, Pilots and soldiers were scattered across the battleground in an all-out war at the IMC base, Infinity. A series of explosions along the main frontline finished off some of the grunts that had been there using the concrete and wrapped metal as cover but that cover proved to be no match from a barrage of missiles from an enemy Tone titan.

A charred black enemy Scorch titan was about to unleashed a wall of thermite on the few militia survivors but was swiftly interrupted by a titan crashing the distance, slamming the titan back, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. This titan punched into the cockpit of the Scorch and ripped the IMC pilot out from within. The titan crushed the pilot in its grasp before kicking the leg of the Scorch to topple the pilotless titan onto the ground before slamming its fist through the hatch of the IMC titan completely destroying it.

The titan responsible for the kill dashed to avoid a laser beam from an IMC Ion titan, using a building as cover, they reloaded their X-06 chaingun before peeking out of cover again

"Pilot, the New Genesis superweapon is about to fire." A somewhat mechanical male voice said warning his pilot, speaking to his pilot that was currently at his controls from within the cockpit. This was titan RO - 4421, a Vanguard-class Titan, piloted by Captain Raylan J Drake of the Militia. RO was painted black with small orange stripes on various parts of its body. One on each arm just above the elbow and one above and below the knee joints. Its X-06 chaingun was similar in color as well. One notable piece of writing on the titan was the word **Ghost** just above its vent on its left.

"They've gotten nowhere with this." Raylan muttered between himself and his partner, he turned to see an opening in a building that could be exploited. It was a collapsed doorway but Raylan knew how to bypass that.

Using the enhanced wrist-mounted time-warping device on his hand he shifted both himself and his titan through time in less than a millisecond. Yet despite time traveling the base was still under attack from the militia. This was a previous operation that had failed to destroy the IMC superweapon, Raylan knew this so he was using this battle as a way to navigate between the battle then and the one they faced in his time. Noting the doorway wasn't collapsed he swiftly dashed himself across the field, only getting about halfway.

Raylan activated ROs vortex shield, pulling in enemy fire both from titans and anti-titan weapons, just as he reached the other side he threw the various ammunition back toward the IMC, firing them back mainly on other IMC titans.

Raylan maneuvered RO through the doorway into the structure leaving his militia allies to fight in the open. After moving through the doorway Raylan warped again back to the present day, he'd bypassed the collapsed doorway and was now in a good flanking route. Moving through the building a series of explosions were heard on the other side back on the main battlefield.

Raylan ran down the structure interior but was met with at first a complete spectres. Not paying them much mind he crushed them all underfoot but as he rounded a corner he came face to face with an IMC Ronin titan.

The enemy titan swung its leadwall shotgun to face Raylan but Raylan bashed it out of the way with his own weapon. He followed up with a swift kick to the body of the Ronin. The impact sent the slightly smaller titan flying into the concrete wall, shattering it on contact.

Pushing the attack Raylan dashed over to the downed Ronin to finish it off, however as he swung to punch into the cockpit the Ronin phased out of danger meaning Raylan punched the small behind it.

Raylan spun on the spot knowing the Ronin would appear any second, he was right. The enemy titan reappeared but closer to him than the Captain had expected. Not being able to fire off his gun in a melee fight he elbowed the Ronin across the faceplate.

The Ronin was stunned for a brief moment but recovered quickly and retaliated by dashing into RO with enough force to break them both through the already damaged wall, both titans dropping their weapons as they landed.

"Shields holding." RO informed his pilot as the Ronin landed on top of them. Leaning up the Ronin went to strike him with a two combo punch but was kicked off.

As both titans recovered the Ronin drew its blade and charged at the Vanguard titan. Preparing for some CQC, Raylan dashed as well closing the distance. This cut off the usability of the sword since it need slightly more range to be effective over fists.

With the IMC titan on the back foot Raylan held onto the arm of the Ronin so it couldn't retract to swing again. Three punches were delivered to the IMC titan before the Ronin dashed back again forcibly breaking the grasp RO had on its arm.

"Enough you Militia trash!" The enemy pilot barked out, clearly not taking the beating lightly. The IMC Ronin charged its blade and held its ground waiting for the Vanguard to move. Raylan couldn't help but eye roll at the comment, that was a poor taunt on his part.

Seeing an opportunity Raylan ran toward the Ronin waiting for it to swing. As the Vanguard came within range of the sword he swung just as Raylan knew he would. Avoiding the hit Raylan warped again back to the past assault as to evade the swing. He wasted no time in wrapping back.

His position had changed as the Ronin had missed the strike leaving the Vanguard on the dead side of the sword. The IMC, in a panic, turned back toward the Militia Vanguard titan but was immediately grabbed. RO hauled the titan over itself, slamming the back of the titan into the ground. Next came the rocket pod as Raylan fired off several missiles at point-blank range into the cockpit of the Ronin. All that could be heard were the screams of the dying IMC pilot and the explosions of the missiles that killed him.

"Titan destroyed, no damage sustained," RO informed his pilot who swiftly looted the Ronin of its blade and holstered it on his own titans back. Raylan moved back to retrieve his chaingun before running to a building as cover. "We must hurry Raylan, we must reach the weapon before it fires."

"Copy that RO." A swift response, Raylan sights lay on a rocky pass just on the edge of the IMC facility, along the ridge were multiple IMC Northstars and Legions blocking the path he wanted to take.

"Captain Drake," A familiar male voice called over to Raylan through ROs communication system. "So you decided to join us did you?" The voice half-joked, showing his comfort when speaking to Raylan. The voice was Commander Keith Manson of the Militia Advanced Recon Battalion.

Raylan himself smirked under his helmet from within ROs cockpit, "What can I say, I'm a workaholic." He sarcastically responded, hearing a series of explosions in the distance.

"I assume you finished your mission? IMC Commander Gibbs is dead?" The Commander asked but truthfully already knowing the answer. He knew what Raylan was capable of, if this guy wasn't dead then he had to be invincible.

"Eliminated," Raylan responded choosing to say no more about his assignment. "We're getting nowhere fast." He stated, changing the subject to the matters on hand.

"I've noticed, the IMC isn't letting this go without a fight and we're out of time. The New Genesis weapon is about to tear through the fleet if we can't stop it." He stated grimly, you could hear the Commander was in a fight of his own judging by the repeated sound of a 40mm gun going off.

"I've got something that might work," Raylan informed he was referring to the device attached to the back of his Vanguard titan. The armored device was a phase bomb designed to counter the explosion of self-destructing superweapons. After the events of Typhon, they couldn't afford to have planet surfaces being blown to pieces. "I've got the phase shield device with me but I need to get close enough to the weapon and my path is currently blocked." His coordinates were sent to the Commander as well as the coordinates of the path he planned to follow.

"We've got your back if you get your ass there in time!" The Commander called back to him, "Alright boys!" He yelled clearly not speaking to Raylan but the other Militia titans that were by his side on the battlefield. "We got enemies along the ridge, time to clear them out for a friend!"

At that moment you could hear the firing of hundreds of rockets. Raylan looked back in the direction he knew the Commander would be as hundreds of missiles fired from Militia Tone titans all swarmed toward one location. The ridge.

Hundreds of explosions riddles the ridge, ripping apart anything and everything that was once there. Trees, walls, titans and soldiers, not a single thing was left apart from the flaming wreckage.

"Path is clear on you end, move it Drake! We don't have much time!" The Commander yelled once the barrage was finished. "We'll hold on here, you do your thing."

Wordlessly Raylan moved from the cover and they ran toward the ridge, reaching the ridge there wasn't much left apart from the mangled and twisted remains of the IMC titans that once stood there.

Taking no mind of that, Raylan pushed onto the other side of the facility. Along the way, he came across an enemy mortar team that he quickly took apart. His chaingun making short work of the spectres he found but to his surprise a Northstar fired off a shot just ahead of him but it wasn't toward Raylan. In fact, the IMC Northstar had yet to notice the Vanguard titan.

Using this chance Raylan maneuvered his way around the side of the Northstar, once he reach the desired distance he pulled the sword from ROs back and strike the leg of the Northstar causing it to crash to its side. Flipping itself over it attempted to react but Raylan swung the sword at the plasma railgun knocking its barrel away from his own titan. Lifting the blade he plunged into the cockpit of the Northstar killing its pilot and the titan instantly.

Having no time to respond to the kill an indicator lit up on ROs hud displaying there was an enemy lockout from behind. "Anti titan lock on." RO clarified in that brief moment.

Instinctively Raylan swung his free hand in that direction and activated his vortex shield to catch the incoming projectile. It took a second longer to reach the shield but he caught the rocket that had been fired at him. He launched it toward the structure at the other end of the opening he stood in. What caught his attention were the numerous IMC grunts that were along the rooftops of the facility.

Not wasting any more time he pulled out ROs' missile pod and locked onto each soldier in sight. He fired off the rockets each hurled itself toward the grunts. Having no time to react to a rocket-propelled missile each grunt was hit with the rocket completely obliterating them on contact.

"Hostiles eliminated. We must keep moving Raylan." RO spoke to his pilot as he turned to the destroyed Northstar again. He holstered the chaingun onto ROs left shoulder, the IMC Ronin sword holstered on the right. Raylan picked up the plasma railgun and continued on to their objective.

They met some resistance in the form of more spectres and IMC grunts but also stalkers however they all proved to be of no real threat to Raylan or RO as they quickly dispatched them. Raylan cut through a partially collapsed structure to bypass the open areas. He wanted to remain as undetected as possible, limit the potential damage on the phase shield while he fought his way to the weapon.

As Raylan reached the main reactor and weapons platform of the New Genesis superweapon he was met with one final obstacle to overcome as he was swarmed by four reapers and a heavily customized IMC Tone titan. A bright red Tone with the skull of a wolf as nose art on its face late. This was the IMC pilot that went by the name Seeker, a known thorn in the side of the militia for a long time now.

"This is where you die pilot." The voice of the pilot Seeker inside the Tone spoke to the Vanguard titan.

The Tone pilot Seeker immediately deployed his particle wall and fire off his first shot. Raylan, quick on the draw, pulled up his vortex shield and caught the first shot but the IMC Tone was smart enough to realize he was safe behind his wall but he ceased firing. Instead, he fired off a small sonor pulse. The pulse echoed throughout the room, it didn't take a genius to realize what the town has done.

Raylan dashed off to the side to avoid the incoming reaper missiles, catching a few in the process before firing upon one of the reapers, severely damaging it.

The IMC Tone didn't let up though as he left the cover it had to follow Raylans retreat, firing off more shots. The next two shots were a hit but they were nullified by the Vanguards shield however that wasn't the main threat as a small volley of rockets came hurtling toward them. The first few made it through Raylan guard, striking his titan but the others were caught by his vortex shield.

"Shields severely damaged, be cautious pilot," RO warned his pilot, the shields were a spec on his hud. Another hit and the shields were dead.

While the Tone was out of cover Raylan fired off the missile to one of the four reapers that stood nearby. He completely destroyed one of them with the Tones salvo while he quickly spun to the previously damaged reaper.

He fired off a single shot of the stolen plasma, the shot ripped through the already damaged reaper causing it to explode upon destruction. Two reapers down, a Tone and two to go.

But his actions left him open as Seeker fired off another two shots, both of them hitting their mark.

The shields were dead and he'd taken a hit with a 40mm. Using the his vortex shield he crashed the distance as he caught another few shots from Seeker but this time he pull out his own missile pod. Locking onto the two remaining reapers he fired off the volleys hitting both of them causing the machines to stumbled from the impact and the damage caused.

Raylan flung the 40mm rounds he'd caught back at the defenseless Seeker. There was no escape, he took the shots but was unfazed by the minor damage done to his shields. But that wasn't the point of Raylan closing the distance as he reached the distance he wanted he fired off a half-charged shot of the plasma railgun. The shot devastated Seekers shields but they remained intact for the moment. The second shot from Raylan was blocked as Seeker redeployed yet another partial wall.

Knowing he wasn't going to damage him while Seeker hide behind the shield he charged another plasma shot at one of the two remaining repears destroying it in a single shot to a weak point on its head. His actions though earned Raylan and RO another two heavy hits from Seeker but luckily he hit the more armored spots on the Vanguard.

Raylan swiftly and decisively came up with a plan, he warped out of this time zone to the past. Luckily for Raylan and RO there wasn't any hostiles on the other side for them.

Seeker on the other hand was stunned, he'd never seen a titan disappear the way they had. He'd seen a Ronins phase shift but this was on a different level, he wasn't reappearing.

"Where is he?!" Seeker called out to his titan. Turning on the spot for any signs on the militias titan reappearing.

"Nothing on the scanners." His titan informed him, using all his available assets to locate this militia titan.

Unexpectedly Seeker got a heads up display. "Warning, enemy pilot on board." His titan informed him, the hud displaying that an enemy pilot was rodeoing his titan in an attempt to either remove a battery or attach a grenade to his Tone.

"Clever bastard." Seeker swiftly deployed the electrical smoke countermeasure in an attempt to dispatch the pilot but the hud ceased its display. Seeker spun on the spot and dashed through the smoke, on the other side he found the enemy pilot, Raylan, backpedaling whilst he fired off a charged rifle shot.

Seeker attempted to swing a punch at Raylan but once again he warped out of existence avoiding the possibly lethal strike.

The final reaper leaped over to Seekers side also in search of the enemy pilot and titan but along with Seeker failing to find him.

Then, out of thin air, reappeared the Vanguard titan RO, a charged and ready plasma shot fired instantaneously. The power and impact devastated the shield since the shot was at such close range, the impact itself forced the Tone backward in a slight stumble.

The Vanguard titan ducked low to evade the heavy gun that was swung wildly and tackled Seeker from below, knocking him off his feet.

With RO being on top of Seeker he struck the hatch of the Tone, damaging the titan slightly however it wasn't going to be enough to finish it off. Seeker was skilled enough to counter some of the strikes as they came however he was just biding his time.

Raylan knew that too, he pushed off the titan and dashed off to the left to avoid a small volley of reaper missiles. A stray missile or two did strike Seeker but they struck the right arm. No real damage was done by that friendly fire though so no party paid it no mind.

"Minor damage sustained. All major systems are undamaged." The Tone spoke to his pilot, checking through its systems. It was merely structural damage to the titans' armor, not its functions.

Raylan countered by firing off a plasma shot at the reaper to stun it for the time being, it was half-charged so it didn't finish it off, something he have to keep in mind.

Seeker adjusted himself and jumped back up from his disadvantageous position on the ground and countered by firing at the Vanguard titan. His shots were caught by its vortex shield but Seeker, regardless, pushed forward toward the militia titan in an attempt to put them on the backfoot. His plan was somewhat successful as Raylan backed off to get cover but he was failing to do damage to him with the vortex shield still intercepting him.

However Raylan once again warped himself and his titan out of danger just as he launched the ordinance he'd caught back at his attackers. Most of the projectiles struck the last reaper, the damage down was enough to finish it off.

Four down, one titan to go.

Seeker in an attempt to figure out the militias strategy back off to a corner off zone, he re-deployed his particle wall once more and crouched his titan down. His eyes sharp for any signs of the lone militia titan.

"New Genesis Weapon is about to fire. All personal brace for a power surge." A machine like voice echoed through the facilities' communication system, alerting everyone to the limited time they had before the _main event._

That's when Seekers hud lit up, displaying both a message and the super weapons statistics. The New Genesis superweapon roared to full life, fully charged, orientated and was firing any minute now. All Seeker had to do now was make sure it fired without issue.

That brief moment of broken attention would prove lethal as Raylan reappeared already passing through Seekers particle wall, he tried to counter but Raylan had bashed his titans gun from his hands leaving with only his fists.

"Weapon lost, engage and re-arm immediately." Seekers titan informed him rather pointlessly considering Seeker could already tell.

Fighting back Seeker gripped the plasma rifle Raylan held as both pilots and titans struggled back and forth. The IMC Tone titan being of equal size held its ground against the Militia Vanguard titan, this only made the struggle last that bit longer but eventually, Raylan made a move.

Pushing the plasma gun against the Tones body he then suddenly pushed it under one of the Tones arms and grabbed it again on the other side. Raylan dashed to the Tones left side still gripping the plasma rifle, RO twisted his body in a manner that put an enormous amount of force on the Tones elbow joint.

"Bastard!" Seeker muttered out as warning signs came up across his hud informing him that his titans are was being damaged. He tried to fight back but Raylan finished the move off by pushing down on the Tones arm, using his Vanguards weight to break the arm of Seekers titan.

An unforeseen accident to come of this was the now bent and broken plasma rifle but Raylan discarded that swiftly.

Being disorientated by the severed arm Seeker spun and swung his titans still functional arm, however, Raylan intercepted the hit and caught the fist and countering with an uppercut, stunning the Tone before being knocked onto its back with a kick.

Finishing it off Raylan moved closer to the downed Tone, leaped into the air and landed foot first through the enemy cockpit. A small scream pierced the air for a moment before the Vanguard foot crushed the titan beneath it.

"Pilot, we must deploy the phase shield immediately, the weapon is about to fire." RO informed his pilot, his sensors detecting the built-up energy within moving inside the weapon.

Raylan examined ROs systems and hud, they were running out of time. If this weapon fired the militia would suffer catastrophic losses as well as resources. This could turn the tide of the war in the IMCs favor if the fleet was to be obliterated, that was not an option.

"Raylan!" The voice of the Commander called out, "We're out of time! Get out of there! Militia forces are withdrawing, we're outnumbered, outgunned and taking a beating! Move your ass!" An explosion could be heard through the transmission, cutting off communication with the Commander. Raylan didn't know if the Commander died in that but he had no time to worry about that. Although his orders fell of deaf ears, not a chance was he leaving now, not when he was this close.

He turned to the reactor core for the New Genesis superweapon, he rushed toward it picking up Seekers 40mm canon as he did. He reached the reinforced bulkhead to the reactor, not wasting any more time RO punched a hole through one of the hinges of the bulkhead and with all its strength began to rip the door off.

It took more time than either Raylan or RO liked but the door was ripped off allowing access into the main reactor. Moving in Raylan leaped out of ROs cockpit. You could now fully see what Raylan looked like as a pilot. He wore darker clothes mix of black and brown. His helmet was that of the iconic x shape with an orange stripe directly across the top of his head. A kukri blade sheathed on his shoulder and a data knife attached to below his ribs on the left. In his hand was a custom G2 rifle, black in color with a suppressor attached. On his back was the charge rifle he'd used to engage Seekers titan with, while on his hip hung a B3 wingman sidearm. He, of course, had his standard kit, jump kit, tactical equipment, and two arc grenades. He was kitted out better than most but that spoke to the line of work he was in.

"RO, drop the phase shield." Raylan instructed his titan who immediately did as ordered. RO crouched down and placed the device between them. Sparks began to fly as the reactors core and the phase shield device fought, RO used his body to protect Raylan has he began to activate the device.

"Thirty seconds." The machine-like voice from before called out.

"Hurry pilot, we need to evacuate," RO instructed his pilot as he observed Raylan making short work of the device.

"Just a bit longer, we can't go anywhere yet." Raylan responded to his partner, he tapped a few more buttons as the device became active. The core within rumbling to life indicating the system was functional.

"Ten seconds, nine, eight, seven…" The same voice echoed throughout the facility. The whole facility began to shake, red lights and sirens lit up and deafened the reactor room. This was it!

"Pilot, we must move," RO stated once again, holding out his hand for the pilot to climb in and jump aboard. They need to move out of the reactor, put distance from the phase shield.

However, the phase shield sparked toward Raylan, zapping him with a blast of energy, knocking him to the ground. RO moved over to his pilot and leaned over him in a defensive manner.

Raylan was about to speak to his titan as he noticed the time-warping device on his wrist begin to glow blindingly bright. He gripped it as he felt it begin to painfully shock his arm, he attempted to claw at it or disable it but his efforts were futile.

"Two, one." The voice finished the countdown as the weapon roared to life, at that moment not only did the phase shield activate but its sparking energy drew itself into the device on Raylans wrist.

"Raylan, we're not making it out, stay low." RO said to his pilot as he completely covered him with his titan frame in an effort to protect him. Ignoring any and all other issues, his main focus was to protect his pilot and he was sure as hell going to.

He was **not** going to lose **his** pilot.

Everything came together as all the noise, shaking and light eventually faded to black. The last thing Raylan saw was the device on his wrist blind him with a white, painful light before he lost consciousness and everything went silent.

 **/_\**

Darkness, a soft whistling of wind, sweat on his face, that's all Raylan could see, hear, feel, his mind hazy, throbbing slightly. Bearable but irritating to say the least. His eyelids were heavy, he struggled to open them for a moment, his senses told him he was laying on something soft yet course. He moved his hand, grasping at what he lay on. Raylan instantly knew what it was, sand and lots of it.

His body was sore but seemed uninjured, at least that meant he wasn't dead, well hopefully it didn't. It was mostly his left arm that hurt, right where the time-warping device had been mounted to be precise.

Slowly Raylan forced his eyes open, the first thing he saw was his helmets hud but for some reason, it was half-covered. Realizing it was sand he shifted slightly to see the sand fall, he pushed himself up feeling the weight of the sand shifting and sliding off his body.

His eyes adjusted through his visor and that's when he realized where he was. Sand as far as the eye could see with only small rocky outcrops popping in and out along the way, no clouds and a blistering sun. It was a god damn desert.

' _A desert? How…?_ ' Raylan thought to himself both confused and curious as to how he got he and where exactly here was.

"Pilot, you're awake." A voice spoke to him, a voice Raylan knew all too well. He rolled over onto his butt to sit upright. Kneeling a few feet behind him was RO, his titan, and partner. "Glad to see you are unharmed." He added at the end once he'd gotten a complete view of him. He'd scanned his unconscious form earlier to make sure he wasn't dying but to see him up and moving again was reassuring.

"Glad to see you too RO, all systems good?" Raylan responded, a smile forming on his face under his helmet. At least he wasn't alone here.

" All systems functioning at peak capacity. Vanguard titan RO-4421 combat-ready and awaiting orders." RO responded swiftly, "Everything is good Raylan." A more casual response to his pilot as well.

"RO," Raylan began again, this time taking a slightly more serious tone, "Where are we?" A simple question really but one that was the most pressing.

"We're currently located in the core system, planet earth to be precise." His titan informed him, to say he was confused and shook at hearing those words would be an understatement.

Raylan glanced around, shakily standing as he did. Still, no matter which way he looked all he saw was rocks and sand, not a single sign of civilization anywhere.

' _This can't be earth, this isn't what earth is meant to look like. It's a core world and yet it's like this?_ ' It was hard to swallow the concept that this was indeed earth. The birthplace of humanity being in what appeared to be bad shape, seemed almost impossible in his head yet his titan told him it was. While it was hard to believe he trusted his titan, if he said this was earth then it was earth.

"How did we get here? We were fighting for the frontier not too long ago." Raylan both asked and stated at the same time, his eyes darted between himself and RO examining them both to see they were both unharmed. All RO had was a few cosmetic scratches here and there from their last battle.

Raylan paused for a moment, "RO, do you have any communication lines to the militia?"

"Negative, all communication attempts thus far have failed. All channels used by the militia can't be located by my systems. It's as if there are no signals." Alright, that was worrying to say the least. No way to contact the militia while they were standing on a mainly IMC controlled planet.

"None? Damn." Raylan muttered to himself, "What about IMC frequencies, we could put a hidden message on their channels and hope militia spies are listening in."

"Negative, I have tried every form of communication channel. Most of which are dead or not responding. I'm not picking up any form of human communication at all, my systems indicate all forms of interstellar communication has been destroyed. Only local systems remain." RO informed his pilot. The titan stood from its crouch, its gaze still firmly fixed onto his pilot and friend.

Raylan stood motionless for a brief moment contemplating what to ask next however RO spoke again. "I did, however, manage to find an unknown network that I have access to. It's not recognized by the militia but its systems seem more developed than that of the IMC."

"What have you managed to find?" Raylan asked curiously, he did a quick check of himself and his equipment. He saw all his equipment was still with him, his G2 rifle however lay on the ground next to where he'd woken up. If he kept all his equipment than he'd assume RO did too as well as pilot weapons stored inside ROs cockpit. He knew an L-Star laser rifle, a set of satchel charges and LG-97 Thunderbolt were stored in there just in case he ever lost his primary weapons. RO himself seemed to have his weapons too since he still had his X-06 chaingun and the stolen Ronin sword on his back while he held onto the stolen 40mm canon they'd gotten from the IMC Tone.

"My systems are shifting through usable data but it will take some time. This network is more advanced than the IMC however I seem to have access to a large portion of the network. Reason: Unknown." RO explained to his pilot, his scanners had been scanning around the area for any signs of technology or humans however he'd yet to find anything in a large radius.

"More advanced than the IMC?" Raylan found that odd, the IMC was known for its technological advances, especially in its robotic and android systems. "Can you identify a name for this network? Are they friendly or hostile?"

"Unknown if they are allied with the Militia or the IMC however my access to the network means they do not see me as a threat or have yet to detect me in their system." RO continued to explain, "The network is under the system name of YoRHa."

"YoRHa?" Raylan stated, it wasn't really a question for RO to answer more so just leaving it in the air for either of them to think about. Raylan had been in service with the militia a long time, he'd done things no others would, some of which he isn't proud of but he'd never come across anything under the name of YoRHa before.

"Raylan, I have located data that might prove useful in our current situation in a file marked _Earth and Humanity_. Accessing now." RO informed his pilot. All either could do was wait for the information to come through. Hopefully, this went smoothly for them, all they needed was hell to rain down on them.

However, what these two were up to didn't go unnoticed by the faction in question.

 **/_\**

Everything seemed to be going as smoothly as it normally did aboard the YoRHa Bunker. The operators went about their daily routines, scheduled contacts with surface agents, data analysis and system maintenance.

The Commander of YoRHa herself had yet to receive an issue for the day. All surface agents and system operators were carrying out their missions with no problems that needed to be addressed by the Commander.

That was about to change.

"Commander!" One of the operators in the command room spoke out, "I've detected an unknown entity within our systems." She informed her commander. A number of other androids in the room took notice of her words, how could some foreign entity access their systems?

"Cut off their access immediately, do damage control on what they managed to access. I want a full report on what they got. Give me further details on what exactly they're doing." The Commander countered, her tone calm and collected. "Put up any useful information on screen." She ordered turning her attention to the large screen in the room, she only had to wait a few seconds for the screen to update.

The random operator continued as she began to activate protocols to counter the intruder, "An unknown system has gained access to classified files, so far we've been unable to fully identify who this is, however, I can confirm they are neither YoRHa or resistance in nature." A series of data streams came up on the screen as well as a digital map of the area the signal came from. "This system is neither machine race or alien in nature though, I am unable to pin this target to anything specific whether it's a non-sentient system or not but I almost have a grid reference."

Her words only made the Commander and others in the room both worried confused and curious for various reasons. Who could access their network and yet not be related to either side? YoRHa or Machine.

"Put its location on-screen, has there been any recent activity in the region?" The Commander inquired if they could locate the source of the intrusion they could destroy it if required.

"Affirmative Commander," The operator replied, "Its signal was traced to a desert region. Not much is out there but earlier our sensors detected a massive surge in energy in the area however it appeared and faded within a second." The digital map highlighted an area of the desert, so while they didn't have a precise coordinate they had a search grid to begin with.

"Does this individual or object have a system name?" The Commander figured if this was a free agent not related to any side they'd have some kind of codename or username to gain access to their restricted files.

The operator paused for a moment trying to pick out a name, luckily she found one. "Yes Ma'am, designation RO-4421." That's all she could find on it however.

RO-4421? A designation like that had previously never been heard of. Hearing that name caused a few of the operators to whisper among one another wondering what it could be.

"Who and where are the nearest agents?" The Commander asked, her thought process now focused on search and destroy. They couldn't allow anyone else to access the system the way this thing had so easily done, this intruder needed to be eliminated before their data fell into enemy hands.

"Units 2G, 2B, 9S, 4D, and 6H are not far from the target location. Flight units would get them there within thirty minutes if sent now Ma'am." The operator informed the Commander. She was awaiting the order to send the flight units and have each agent's operators inform them of their new objective.

The Commander observed the data on screen, "Inform those YoRHa agents of the situation and send flight units to their location. I want them as a squad to locate and destroy the intruder asap, this is a search and destroy mission. In the meantime I want a team to analyze this individual and gather as much intel on them as possible." The Commander told the operator, "Get to work people!" She ordered as the operators all began to work on their required tasks. The operators to the surface agents in question all immediately attempted to contact them to update them on their new objectives.

The Commander continued to gaze at the incoming data, she had a strange feeling telling her something was off about all this but for now, she had to focus on protecting YoRHa assets, that was her current main priority.

If only she knew.

 **/_\**

Raylan had been going about checking his weapons making sure they were all loaded and ready for a skirmish, they were in possibly hostile territory so they had to be combat-ready at a moment's notice.

"Pilot, my access has been revoked. I can't gather any more intel or data for our current situation." RO regretfully informed his pilot. "However I do believe I have something."

"Keep it brief if possible, if they pushed you out it means they don't want us there. We could be found out and possibly tracked." Raylan explained, he straddled up his weapons and held onto his G2 rifle awaiting what RO had to say.

"According to the data I gathered, it seems we're not in our own time." He began swiftly.

"Our own time?" Raylan questioned before looking at the disabled device on his wrist. His mind came to several conclusions but waited for RO to continue. Best hear everything first before making one's final judgment.

"We're in the future, how far is unknown but this is indeed what earth would end up like in our timeline." RO explained, "This all happened as a result of advanced sentient alien contact on the frontier. A war sparked between humanity and this newly discovered alien race however their number far exceeded that of humanity. Humans were forced out of the frontier and onto the back foot, this forced old enemies to come together in an attempt to save humanity."

Listening to this was both hard to swallow and somewhat depressing to hear, knowing humanity had to fight a war for survival and by the sounds of it one they had lost mostly at the beginning.

"These aliens used biological weapons and machines to fight their war, humanity was pushed back to the brink of extinction with earth being the final planet that had any human life remaining on it." It all sounded so bleak, "However it is said humans fled to the moon and took shelter there. A well-disguised colony was established on the moon's surface and underground. Humanity survived but only just, they await the chance to return to earth and recolonize the planet once again."

Hearing all this Raylan felt so conflicted, on one hand he'd just learned that humanity had pushed to the brink of extinction, not to mention how his home, the frontier, was probably destroyed just as badly as earth probably was. Everyone he knew and everything he'd fought for was gone in this timeline. But he could feel relief at the thought that humanity lived on somehow, on the moon.

"So the Militia and IMC came together in an effort to protect humanity…" Raylan stated, it truly made it seem like their own wars among themselves seem so trivial. They'd kill each other for resources, freedom, money, and land yet when humanity was threatened as a whole they came together. That was worth something at least.

"Pilot, the militia is no more in this timeline. We have no superiors to follow meaning it falls to you to lead us in this situation." RO told his pilot. They had no mission or objective, they needed purpose and direction if they were going to survive this.

It took Raylan a moment, he was still coming to terms with what he'd just heard but he knew better. He knew they had to continue on, they needed to contact the humans on the surface and truly figure all this and maybe even figure out how to return to their own timeline if that was at all possible.

"Alright," Raylan began turning to fully face his titan, "Our mission is to contact the survivors on the moon and figure out how to return home if possible. But for now, we must focus on ourselves." Raylan readied himself alongside RO, "We need to get out of here, this isn't a secure area. We're unsure if YoRHa is allied with the survivors on the moon or not so we need to retreat, gather intel and supplies and plan from there." A fair strategy, knowledge of something doesn't mean one is allied with it but first, they needed supplies and resources.

"Operation: Wolf Pack - Objective: Survive."

"Copy that pilot," RO responded, he picked up Raylan and placed him on his shoulder. They'd make better mileage if the titan carried the pilot. "Until we can rendezvous with other humans we are on our own."

"When are we not…" He half joked, Raylan took the offer and climbed aboard, "Keep your scanners open for possibly friendly channels or hostile contact." He found a stable position on his titans' frame and held his G2 rifle as he observed his surroundings.

RO nor Raylan needed a response for that, instead, RO asked, "Which way do you recommend pilot?" No matter which way they went all they could see was desert.

Raylans hud lit up displaying cardinal directions, from his training he knew which would be best to pick. "Head North, between three-forty and twenty degrees." He instructed his comrade who immediately began to briskly walk in that direction.

All they had, were each other.

Raylan sat atop his titan thinking to himself, ' _Just like it always is._ '

This thought might prove to be so wrong and so right in a number of ways.

* * *

 _C1: End_

 _Not much to say here so I'll keep it brief. I thought of this idea and so I decided to write it. Not sure how long the story will be but it should be an interesting ride until then. It's similar in nature to my other Titanfall x Nier story but this one is more action-y for reasons you'll understand as you read._

 _Have any critics, ideas or suggestions feel free to share them whether, through review or PM, I'm always up for a chat._

 _I've rambled on long enough so I'll wrap this up. Thanks for reading!_

 _AlcatrazDGold - Peace!_


	2. Chapter 2: It Begins

**Chapter 2 - We've Been Engaged!**

 **/_\**

The blistering sun scorched the desert sand, heat waves seeped upward blurring objects and landmarks off in the far distance not that there was many. It still consisted of mostly rocky outcrops and boulders with the occasional sign of grass or a random tree growing from beneath the sand. The only thing of note was what seemed from this distance to be a rock wall ahead of them with multiple entrance and ravens, they'd have to hope that one lead through to the otherside, if not they were climbing and that would slow their horizontal movement as they ascend.

The only signs of movement came from a certain titan with a pilot riding on top. Raylan and RO were still wondering the desert in the direction Raylan had instructed. While they had yet to come across anything of huge significance the appearance of more rocky outcrops proved they were heading in the direction of something of mass. What that was specifically was currently unknown.

The pair had made some idle comments and gave instructions as to what they'd plan to do, coming up with theoretical plans for various situations depending on what they manage to find. Raylan had gone over his equipment again, specifically his pilot equipment. His hud systems told him that his cloak, phase walk and holo pilot and the wrist mounted time shift device were currently disabled and were in the process of being self-repaired on their own apart from the time shifter, the only equipment that remained functional were his grapple hook, jumpkit and tactical visor such as thermal, night vision and sonar. Until all his equip could repair themselves he was only half as effective as he might like.

The pair had been walking for the past twenty minutes at a solid but cautious pace.

Raylan admittedly was rather distracted every so often, his mind always going back to his thoughts of the Frontier. Had they succeeded? Had they successfully protected the militia fleet from destruction? Or was it all for not. He simply didn't know the answer, everything went black before he could see it happen.

"Do you think they made it out alive?" Raylan asked out of the blue as he slowly scanned around, checking for movement or anything that might prove hostile. He might be concerned but he had to keep his head in the game, he knew the costs if he didn't.

"Unknown," RO began knowing what he was asking without need for clarification, not exactly giving an answer he was hoping for, "But we can't be sure of anything. For all we know that same blast that transported us here could have torn apart the New Genosis weapon from the inside. However, I suspect there are higher probabilities of success over failure." RO attempted to explain to his pilot.

"What makes you say that?" Raylan questioned his friend, aiming down the scope of his G2 rifle to get an improved sight at further advantage points ahead of them.

"The data we collected from this YoRHa organisation explained that the IMC and Militia forces fought together on the Frontier. This alien opposition advanced toward Earth and the core worlds at an alarming rate after the fall of the Frontier, if the data is accurate of how long the war went on for then the Militia fleet must have survived as the IMC forces alone would not have been enough to slow this invasion the way it apparently had." Completely sound logic from RO, the Frontier certainly didn't go down without a fight that's for damn sure. Raylan knew what the people were like, they were fighters till the end.

"Thanks RO." Raylan responded, his words might be purely logically but they certainly helped ease his worried mind. He turned to double check their rear to make sure they weren't being followed, Raylan did notice the impressions RO left as he walked but the wind would cover that up over time. Time to completely focus on the now and not what might have been.

"You're welcome Pilot." RO swiftly responded as he marched on through the desert. His scanners on high alert for anything of value or threatening.

The pair continued their march through the desert for another few minutes, exchanged a few comments and theories as to where specifically on Earth they were but they came to no solid conclusions.

However that swiftly came to an end.

"Scanners indicate we have targets incoming." RO informed his pilot, spinning on the spot toward the direction his radar was indicating. Raylan swiftly followed suit by crouching lower on his titan whilst still holding strong onto him. He used his G2 rifles scope to get a better view in the direction RO had indicated.

"How many?" Raylan asked briskly, scanning the horizon and the edges of dunes for any signs of movement.

"Two, fast approaching to our position." RO answered, "No visual sighting." He added as he swiveled on the spot with his 40mm canon waiting to catch a glimpse of something. Neither knew if the contact was friendly or hostile but they were on a former IMC controlled world, enemy territory and in a future they knew next to nothing about, better to verge on the side of caution on this one.

"Closing in." RO informed his pilot still locking down where they were coming from.

Raylan was about to respond when movement caught his, "Above!" Raylan yelled to his partner. "Move!"

RO immediately dashed to one side as a volley of lasers fired in their direction, starting from a few feet away kicking up a lot of sand as the shots worked their way toward them.

Luckily the shots missed but quickly riddled the ground as it passed the pair, as soon as they recovered from the ambush they turned their attention to the skies above. The two partners instantly saw what had just strafed them.

Two unidentified aircraft rapidly flew over head in a duo formation, the pair tracked their movements and saw them pull a hard bank left as if they were coming in for another strafe or possibly searching to see if they had hit their target.

Raylan swiftly looked around, his eyes rested on a small area of rocky outcrops and tall rocks arches. "RO!" He called out to his partner who kept all systems trained on their two attackers. "Move to the rocks, use them as cover. We're exposed here, we need to re-position." Raylan instructed his titan.

"Affirmative pilot." RO immediately began moving toward the area Raylan had pointed out whilst keeping his scanners on the two hostiles above them. Raylan held tight to his titans back as he kept his G2 rifle on the two hostiles above, following their movements.

When he saw them straighten out he informed his partner. "RO, they're coming in again. Brace!" Seeing as they were coming straight toward them Raylan took multiple shots at the targets, his G2 rifle had considerable range and Raylan damn well knew he was a fantastic shot so he lined them up and fired away as RO continued to retreat to the rocks giving the best suppressing fire he could currently.

Moments later another laser strafe came their way as the pair reached the rocks, once again the shots kicked up a lot of sand temporarily blinding both parties to one another as the volley landed. Luckily though for Raylan and his comrade they'd managed to make it to the rocky outcrops and crouch behind a large boulder as cover allowing the strafe to once again pass by, though it did kick up a lot of sand and have some force behind it.

Raylans sight turned above them as they saw the two craft pass over them. They were sure to come for another shot at them, they needed a plan fast. The pair found themselves in a maze of rocks, while this could be used as cover it made it impossible to see over them and follow the position of the hostile aircraft, they would have to follow his titans scanning system to track them.

"RO, switch to the chaingun, you'll have a better chance of hitting." Raylan instructed his titan, the 40mm cannon he had now would surely do more damage but at the speed these hostiles moved getting a good shot with such a heavy shot could prove ineffective, using the chaingun as a flak cannon was a better option here, more rounds are more likely to hit. "Save your missiles for now, let's see what we can do first with these first. Keep your scanners open." The pilot added on at the end.

"Understood, suggest using the charge rifle instead of the G2 rifle to engage." RO stated as he holstered the cannon on one should and took the chaingun from the other. Raylan mentally agreed with his titan switching out for the charge rifle, he'd have to be more careful lining up a shot with this thing but it could down the craft if it hit. The G2 was unlikely to damage anything with heavy armor regardless, it was wiser to use anti-titan weapons.

Raylan jumped off his titans back, "Stay low and stay close." Rayland said to his titan who followed that exact order by crouching ever so slightly lower and following cautiously behind his pilot.

"Scans indicate both hostiles have switched to a patrol pattern, they've separated as they investigate the area where we were last seen." RO informed his pilot through his helmet radio as they both slowly moved through this rock maze.

' _If they've split up to search for us they do not see us a massive threat if they are willing to engage us alone, not only that but they mustn't be able to find us with scanners otherwise they wouldn't need to search for us._ ' Raylan quickly summarized in his head, they had very advanced aircraft yet their scanners couldn't locate them? Odd to say the least.

The pair around a corner keeping their eyes on the sky above as they moved.

"Pilot, one is approaching on our position fast." RO informed his friend, the titan turned his body toward the direction and gave a quick jut forward of his chaingun to indicate the direction the hostile was coming from.

Raylan nodded at his titan and turned to move in that direction slightly, they'd get nowhere running on foot, they both knew this, they had to take them down. Or at the very least down them for long enough to put some distance between them to make it impossible for their pursuers to track the two of them.

Raylan waited by another corner and peered around it charge rifle half primed to fire, he watch the skies above to see if an opening presented itself.

And it did.

One of the two hostiles that engaged them hovered across the opening slowly searching for them, in that brief moment Raylan took note of a few things despite the distance. For one, the craft itself wasn't that big nor bulky. The distance between them made it so he couldn't make out any sort of details but he could see some crucial parts of the craft were such as the thrusters.

Raylan fully primed the shot and fired, aiming toward the one of the crafts thrusters however at the last moment the craft turned slightly causing the shot to merely strike the wing. Good shot in most regards but not the one they were looking for.

While the beam from the rifle seemed to do considerable damage judging from the black smoke pouring from the devastated wing. However the craft remained airborne and spun on the spot in the direction the shot came from.

Without hesitation the craft fired off over two dozen missiles all heading toward Raylans position. "Missiles!" He yelled to also warned his partner. Seeing this he quickly retreated behind the corner of the rock wall, RO swiftly moved over to his pilot and sheltered him with his body as the missiles struck the corner he just stood at and devastated the rock just beyond it.

A series of explosions rung out across the rocky landscape, bits of shattered rock flew through the air raining down on the pair.

"Recommend you embark Raylan." RO quickly stated to his pilot. Wordless RO opened his hatch to allow his pilot to embark, the neural link doing its work for the pair. Raylan jumped aboard and fired up all the systems as the hatch closed.

It was wiser for Raylan to stay inside his titan for the time being, if they had missiles he would need something to protect himself against them. If his phase walk device was functional he'd use that but it was disabled at the moment so he was reliant on ROs defense to keep them both safe.

Raylan turned and began moving away from his position, they knew they were here, a fight was inevitable now and they weren't going to lose this one.

"Second hostile approaching, watch the skies." RO informed his pilot, his eyes shifted to the map display in front of him for a brief moment. He saw it coming from their right so Raylan turned that way to intercept them.

At the brief glimpse of movement Raylan fired off the chaingun toward the airborne foe, seemingly catching it off guard as it didn't immediately fire back. The craft took a few hits causing it to be knocked around in the air but it was too high up for Raylan to score a critical hit on it.

The craft seemingly dashed out of the line of fire and retaliated by firing a set of missiles at them. Raylan dashed out of the way of harm's way but didn't take his eyes off his foe. He fired off another quick burst in an attempt to force it off. His strategy was successful as the craft transformed mid-air and shot off out of view again and out of the line of fire.

This gave them a moment to breath, bad move on their enemies part.

Raylan took this moment to put more distance between them and attempt to find somewhere more usable as an ambush position, while it wasn't easy to ambush an airborne foe it wasn't impossible and they had plenty of shifting rocky maze like areas and pillars to use to their advantage. All Raylan had to do was put a plan together.

"Pilot," RO spoke to his comrade, "We must down both craft quickly, they've surely called for back-up by now." His titan informed him, he was more than likely correction on that. They'd damaged both craft now and were still operational themselves, more were surely on the way if they weren't already heading their way in the first place. As soon as they got a chance to put distance from this area they'd have to take it.

Raylan moved off away from their position over to a more mixed canyon and arch way rock area, deeper crevices and taller and wider arches of rock covered this area. Best opportunity for an ambush lay somewhere here.

Raylan didn't waste time as the pair made their way through the rocky maze, reaching the area they saw earlier.

Raylan made to disembark which RO instantly allowed for his pilot, "RO, prepare defensive measures and follow close behind my position, this is going to get heated quickly." He stated to his pilot as he did a brief check of his charge rifle. "I'll engage them on the flat rock above, you lay low, find a position ahead of the direction I end up going and wait for an opening on my signal. Either wait for a chance to use their own weapons on them or light em up with your chaingun, avoid using your own missiles they more than likely have lock-on counter measures."

"Solid copy Pilot," RO responded "Watch your six up there." He moved to grab his pilot and lift him up closer to the rocky ledge above them, Raylan aimed his right arm up to the ledge and fired his grapple hook. A second later he rapidly pulled himself upward, he reached the ledge and pulled himself up and over. RO watched his pilot disappear over the ledge, while he was tracking him he lost visual contact with him, turning back to the maze like canyon area RO stood in he made his way to a better advantageous position.

Now atop some of the rocks he got a better, although brief, look out in the distance. Not far from their position was looked like the remains of a long abandoned cityscape. It would take a genius to figure out where the pair were heading next after this confrontation.

Raylan took off at a sprint to reach a position not far from a rock pillar but far enough away that he couldn't immediately use it as cover.

That's when he saw one of the craft hovering across the area to his left. Quick as a flash he primed the charge rifle and lined up a shot, it was of considerable distance but nevertheless he took the shot.

Strong hit, the beam crossed the distance in almost an instant and struck the target.

But once again the craft remained airborne however it seemed to be severely damaged judging by the thick black smoke emitting off it and what he believed were sparks. The craft turned to his direction and quickly began closing the distance. As it neared it fired off another series of laser shots, blasting the rock ahead of Raylan, coming straight toward him.

Raylan threw his arm up to the pillar and fired off his grapple, it took a second longer than Raylan might have liked but he pulled himself toward the pillar only barely avoiding the laser strafe.

When he hit the pillar he began to wall run the surface, picking up a bit of speed however the craft followed his movement and fired off a barrage of missiles to his location.

With the pillar being a round surface Raylan ended up on the other side of the pillar however the missiles still struck very close to Raylan causing the wall he ran on to completely shatter and break apart, the force of the explosions propelled him off the surface and into the air in a brief flail.

Raylan swiftly regained his position mid-air and allowed himself to descend, that was close, too close. The craft saw Raylan land on the surface of the flat rock and followed his movements.

But to the surprise of both parties the pillar completely shattered into debris and fragments at the base causing the pillar to begin to fall. Unfortunately for Raylan it was heading toward his direction.

"Shit." Raylan muttered as he ran toward the ledge of another deep crevice, the craft dashed backwards slightly to avoid any falling debris but its sights remained on Raylan's form.

Raylan leapt over the edge as the rock pillar completely collapsed across the rock surface, some of the debris and rock material crashed and bounced over the edge following Raylan.

The aircraft swiftly hovered over to the position Raylan had gone, looking for confirmation of destruction more than likely. However, dust and sand had been kicked up into the air lowering visibility.

But the craft caught sight of its target through a break in the smoke retreating toward another bend in the canyon. From its position the craft lined up another shot with its laser and began firing again.

Raylan swiftly fired a grapple hook and pulled himself around the corner and avoided the lasers. The aircraft saw this and followed behind, this time however it dived into the canyon to follow at a similar level to its target.

Raylan was running along the wall as he peered over his shoulder to see if the aircraft was following behind him. The craft appeared around the corner much further behind him.

Raylan jumped off the wall to another wall, picking up more speed than he'd already gained. Raylan jumped again and in mid-air spun on the spot and primed and fired another shot toward the craft, this time the aircraft evaded the shot by dashing slightly to its right just as Raylan landed on the other wall to keep running.

While Raylan might have liked for the shot to hit it was more of a distraction, making it so the aircraft was more prioritized with dodging the shot as opposed to firing on him.

Harassing tactics.

Using this Raylan leapt off the wall and fired his grapple once again, latching onto a corner, he fired off his jumpkit and used it to propel himself around the bend at speed.

The aircraft quickly fired off a few missiles in an attempt to intercept Raylan but once again Raylan barely made it around that bend, however the missiles struck a point not far from his grapple causing the rock to shatter and collapse, his grapple losing its grip caused Raylan to fall toward the ground.

Raylan used his jumpkit to slow his fall and landed with a tactical roll to slow his momentum, where Raylan had landed was a little crossroad between multiple crevices.

Before Raylan could make a choice as to where to move to the craft rounded the bend and located him. The aircraft focused in on Raylan and prepared to fire a series of missiles.

Which it then did. Several missiles erupted from the craft all heading toward Raylan himself.

"RO!" Raylan called out as he saw the missiles coming toward him.

To his credit RO dashed out from one of the crevices toward Raylan, just as the missiles got too close for comfort RO reached his pilot and activated his vortex shield to protect him. The angle at which the titan had done it made it so a stray missiles struck the side of the titan but his shields held, the rest had been caught mere few away from Raylan.

RO immediately fired the collection of missiles back toward the aircraft at the same time Raylan primed his charge rifle. The craft at such close range had no time to react so it couldn't evade everything. While it evaded several missiles it was struck by three as well as Raylans charge beam. One of the wings exploded as the craft shot upward before spiraling out of control above them, heading toward the flat surface above them.

"One down." Raylan counted but before they could recover RO was struck by several missiles, each exploding on his back left side causing the titan to stumble over having to use his arms to catch himself from completely falling over, damage was sustained by that one but it was all minor since it had to break through his titans remaining shield.

Raylan caught sight of the second craft within a canyon further behind, they'd taken one down but another remained.

"RO!" Raylan called to his titan causing the titans ocular system to turn toward his pilot, "Throw me!" Immediately following the order grabbed his pilot and hurled him straight upward before turning to face the craft itself.

Raylan soured into the air giving him a clear shot of the craft, he primed his charge rifle once again and ready tied to fire at the apex of his airtime. The aircraft clearly caught sight of Raylan since, what Raylan thought was the front, the craft turned toward the mid-air pilot ready to both evade and fire upon Raylan.

However, RO was quick to recover and attempt to fire back as his left shoulder deployed his energy siphon, he swiftly half charged it and fired it. The energy siphon hit the craft causing it to stumble mid-air, it had been stunned by the electrical current and power that had been drained from it.

Raylan took the shot hitting the craft once again, this time hitting a thruster it appeared since the craft began to spiral around, banging off one of the canyon walls in an attempt to regain control.

Raylan quickly fell out of the sky but was caught by his comrade who open his hatch to allow Raylan to embark. Once inside and in control they turned back to the damaged aircraft, Raylan pulled up their chaingun and open fired at the aircraft.

In an attempt to avoid being hit the craft darted left and right however due to the damage sustained it proved ineffective. After a couple very strong hits the craft was basically torn apart but in a last ditch attempt the craft darted out of the canyon, clipping the edge as it did.

There was no chance the craft was staying airbourne for much longer and as if to prove that point RO spoke up, "Scanners indicates the craft is no longer moving, the signal has weakened severely. The aircraft is likely non-functional." RO explained to his pilot.

"Solid copy RO," Raylan responded as he too observed the map display within the titan. His titan was correct as the map hud no longer displayed the crafts presence. "I saw, due north of our current position, there was what appeared to be an abandoned city, we could both lose our hunters and use that as a strategic point to gather information if there is any to find."

"We should start moving now Pilot, scans indicate there is another hostile coming to our position, however they're travelling at a much slower pace. This is likely a rescue or recovery party coming to the aid of the two aircraft we just fought. Suggestion: Immediately heading toward the city ruins." RO informed his friend, his systems on high alert if that contact suddenly changed to a patrol or hunting pattern.

"Understood, we're moving." Raylan turned them to head in the direction of the city, "Engage counter hunting tactics and anti-tracking patterns from now on." Raylan instructed his titan, "We're being hunted now, we have to be even more cautious now."

"Copy that Raylan." His titan swiftly responded as the marched on.

' _Let's hope that there is something of value out there…_ ' Raylan briefly thought before completely zoning in on getting them both to the city ruins.

 **/_\**

Another two flight units approached the area where they saw smoke, both operators of the flight suits had just been informed that two other operatives had been shot down when they attempted to engage the targets. They'd been ordered to land alongside there fellow unit that had arrived shortly before them.

The pair of flight units came to a slow and graceful landing, two androids disembarked from the flight units.

One was a female looking android, she wore a black blindfold and heels, her hair was white and her skin was pale, her dress was mostly black with a few pieces colored white across her and on her her back were two swords. One sword being a white katana like blade the other was a large square like blade.

The other android was a male, white hair and pale skin similar to his companion however his outfit was a pair of black shorts and a jacket and gloves, he wore a blindfold like his female counterpart but he only carried a single black katana like blade.

Both androids were followed by their respective pods, the females being white while the males was black.

These two androids were units 2B and 9S.

Further ahead of the pair they saw their fellow androids, units 2D, 4G and 6H. However, both units 2D and 4G appeared slightly damaged whilst 6H was repairing them both.

2B and 9S approached their comrades with 9S beginning the conversation, "How bad is the damage?" 9S wanted to know if they were in any need of assistance, he'd do what he can to aid them both. 2B silently stood beside him watching the fellow YoRHa members.

2D was a male android, dressed in a mixture of black and brown gear, brown boots, gloves and trousers but a black jacket, blindfold and hair as well. On his back was a spear as well as a shield, it suited his classification of Defender. Of this squad he had been given joint command of the unit alongside unit 2B since they shared the same rank, he greeted his fellow captain with a nod of his head as she did right back.

Sitting on a small rock was unit

"Minimal, 6H repaired any and all major damage however both flight units we were in are beyond repair." 2D announced to them both, he moved to greet them both. "2B, 9S, good to have you both." The android said to which both nodded and replied with _sir_ , 2B just showing the proper respect to a fellow captain.

"I'll quickly brief you both, unit 4G and I engaged the target before any of you arrived. We assumed with air superiority we'd have little to no issue in destroying the target however that proved wrong." He stated to the pair as his own white pod hovered between them, its display lit up and it showed images they'd manage to get while in combat. "This is what we're up against, these two managed to down both flight units and evade destruction." The image was of what appeared to be a large machine and another smaller one. For one, 9S found it difficult to understand how these two managed to not only defend against two YoRHa flight units but actually manage to beat them.

However 9S noticed something, "Sir," He began, directing his statement to 2D, "The smaller of the duo appears more android like in appearance." He stated his observation, 2B coming to a similar conclusion as she analysed the picture in detail. These two were now her targets and she would commit their appearance to memory as she hunted them.

"It's just a possibility but we might be dealing with a rogue android and an advanced machine lifeform working in tandem." 2D stated to the pair, 9S visibly reacted to hearing the news of a possible rogue android. How did this sort of thing come to pass? Rouge androids?

2B on the other hand wasn't at all shaken, "How advanced?" 2B questioned, although the machine lifeform and possible rogue android managed to down a pair of flight units other machines had managed to do the same thing. How was this one different?

This time it was 4G that answered from her position on the rock as 6H continued to repair an injury to her arm. Unit 4G was a female android, dress rather similarly to her comrade 2D however her clothes were colored more along the lines of 2B and 9S, only black and white but hers was mostly white. Although, her hair color was red, similar to another android among them. 4G carried two weapons, one however was what appeared to be a large caliber laser gun while the other was a sword.

Unit 6H, the one repairing them, was also a female android. She wore a black and red dress, mostly black for the dress and heels with hits of red but her leggings and gloves were red along with her hair. She merely had a small sword with her, probably because she wasn't a combat unit.

4G answered 2B, "Advanced enough to both out fight and out smart our strategies and weapons. They both managed to deal damage to our flight units as individuals, working in sync with one another for well timed attacks and counter attacks to our weapons." 4G explained to her new co-captain. "The limited weapons proved ineffective against their, apparent, wider arsenal."

"I'd suggest we inform the Commander of our engagement and brief them of the current situation." 2B suggested to her fellow captain. 2D, 2B and 9S moved closer to where 4G and 6H were.

"Agreed." 2D quickly agreed, "Pod, contact Command immediately." He ordered his pod, the pod instantly began making contact with the YoRHa bunker.

A few moments later a display came up for the group, it was the Commander herself. All units stood to attention, including 6H but she went back to repairing 4G after a few seconds.

"Report." The Commander stated, already knowing that is why they had contacted her but giving them permission to speak.

Seeing as 2B, 9S and 6H weren't involved in the engagement themselves they left the report to unit 2D instead.

"Commander," 2D began, "Units 4G and I engaged the target as ordered however the enemy was stronger than we initially thought, they managed to down both our flight units and injure us in the process." 2D explained to the Commander.

"How are the damages?" The Commander questioned first, wanting to know if she had to redeploy other units to take the place of the damaged ones.

"Repaired, unit 6H has successfully dealt with all major damage. Units 2D and 4G are fully functional and combat ready ma'am." 2D answered. 2B, 9S and 6H all listened intently in an attempt to understand more of the situation, this was just as much a brief for them as it was for the Commander.

"You mentioned the target was a **they** , explain." The Commander ordered swiftly after hearing they were functional again.

"Yes Ma'am, once we located the target we discovered that it was a pair, not a single individual. We captured images of the targets and are sending to you now." He informed their Commander, "One might be a possible rogue android."

Upon hearing the news of a possible rogue android the Commander drew momentarily tense, rogue androids were a top priority threat above all else. Her eyes analyzed the images they received at the bunker, it appeared true from what one could gather of the smaller counterpart. They appeared more android in shape and size as well as combat skill.

But this one was priority one for one reason.

"Listen closely," She ordered the squad, to which each unit straightened out, "These targets are priority one above all else right now. The information the target seized from our archive relates to the humans on the moon, these individuals could pose a threat to humanity with the information they have. Your mission is the same, it is paramount that these targets be swiftly eliminated by any means necessary, am I understood?" Her tone of voice giving no room for argument or confusion.

"Understood Ma'am." Every single android replied at once, completely clear on their objective.

"Good," The Commander replied, "Since the target was able to successfully destroy two flight units you shall track the targets by foot and engage once they're found. I will be putting another squad together to join in the hunt however there are no current available units, I shall be prioritizing their objectives and they shall be joining you at some point." The group took notice of their flight units taking off into the skies to return to the bunker, possibly to be sent to the units of the other squad.

"Understood Commander, we'll begin to track the targets immediately." 2D answered, giving her a brief YoRHa salute to which the others followed suit.

"Glory to mankind." The Commander spoke their motto.

"Glory to mankind." Each android replied saluting at those words.

The communication line between them was cut and the display turned off, the group turned to one another.

"What are our orders?" 4G asked her two captains, awaiting their next move.

It was 2B that spoke first, "We're moving out now," She began rather strongly, her tone commanding and driven. "If you still need another while to repair then 6H shall stay with you while 2D, 9S and I scout ahead and attempt to locate tracks to follow." 9S glanced over to his partner, she wasn't one to order people in such a tone but then again this is the first time she was ever given a mission that might directly threaten humanity, she was absolutely going to take this seriously.

"2B has it right," 2D confirmed the other android leaders words, folding his arms as he spoke, "Every minute we waste the target puts more distance between us and them. We can't afford to delay ourselves."

"Understood." Both 4G and 6H replied with 6H continuing, "I'll have him fully repaired within the next few minutes. We shall catch up to you briefly after." She stated as she continued to work on 4G.

"Good, alright we're moving out." 2B stated as she turned to head in the direction they last their target and attempt to find tracks to follow. 2D followed just slightly behind her.

There was a brief pause from 9S as he looked between the others in the group. There was uncertainty plaguing the android, hearing about a rogue android always concerned him. Everyone here knew what this android had done but not the **why**. That's what 9S found worrying, nobody seemed to care but him.

He might be a soldier but he was an S model android, asking the hard hitting **why** questions is what he does.

"9S!" 2B called out to him in a assertive tone, "Hurry up!" She ordered from further away, both 2B and 2D waiting for the Scanner model.

He buried his concerns for now but he would work on this problem later on.

He was going to get answers.

* * *

 _C2: End_

 _Apologies for this taking so long, had a number of things happen over the last while that I couldn't really avoid, I just had to deal with it. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long._

 _(If I mix up the names 2D and 2B anywhere let me know in the future, thanks.)_

 _As for those of you who read both my Titanfall X Nier stories I'm letting you know that I have NOT abandoned the other story (Access, Adapt, Survive), the next chapter for that should be out soon when I get some more free time, things are just hectic right now._

 _Review Response:_

 _Killer Hamster: I have something in mind for the big reveal for the androids but that's some time away. The hunt will be for the majority of the story but I have ways of breaking it up by having Raylan hide and interact with other characters from the Nier series that aren't apart of YoRHa._

 _tomkatan: I'm glad to say that the Access, Adapt, Survive story is still active (If a bit late on it's update this time), I just wanted to have a Titanfall x Nier story that was more centered around a concept not done before, that being YoRHa hunting down a Human._

 _Prometheus-G747: An oddly specific review (Similar to the one you posted for my other story) but I suppose you're sorta right? I only know bits about the Commander from my time playing the game and she could be? 2B seems like it for sure though so maybe you're onto something._

 _JLKAuthor: Sorry for the late updates, I know you seem to be rather excited for the next chapters of this story so hope this one was up to standard and the next one will hopefully be out quicker as well._

 _Aquaticmammals: Glad you're enjoying the story and I agree Titanfall is fucking great!_

 _Have any critics, ideas or suggestions feel free to share them whether through review or PM, I'm always up for a chat._

 _I was also thinking of doing more crossovers involving Titanfall (and maybe Nier along with it) such as maybe Titanfall X Rwby (May also include Nier) and such. Let me know if anyone would like to see that kind of project done. I certainly would like to do something with Rwby and other series like Titanfall and Nier._

 _(Hearts of Iron IV - USA Allies the Soviets in a nutshell)_

 _I've rambled on long enough so I'll wrap this up. Thanks for reading, see y'all in the next chapter and in Assess, Adapt, Survive!_

 _AlcatrazDGold - Peace!_


	3. Chapter 3: The City Awaits

**Chapter 3 - City of Dangers**

 **/_\**

Raylan sat atop ROs frame just like before they were engaged in the desert, he'd disembarked from the cockpit shortly after fleeing the immediate scene, surveying the sights around them for any sign of hostile contact or of something of interest. Life signs, settlement markers, something to indicate some kind of life or activity in the area.

Thus far they'd found no sign of life apart from their pursuers, even then neither Raylan or RO were sure whether those jets were automated or not. From ROs brief scans he'd detected no life signs of any kind but that might mean the ones controlling them were stationed somewhere, perhaps at the base of operations of this YoRHa faction. The only life form that appeared on his systems at all was Raylan, something which concerned the massive titan for more than one reason.

It didn't take long for the two partners to reach the outskirts of the abandoned city, ROs frame making quick work of the distance. Only a short distance separated them from the cityscape itself, soon they'd be among the streets of this long empty city. The pair couldn't waste a second they'd earned after their confrontation, their pursuers would be hot on their trail, although they did try to mitigate the tracks they left by using rocks as footholds to avoid RO leaving footprints but that was a secondary thought at this moment.

Priority one was simply reach the city. It was rather basic but it had good reasoning, Raylans advanced recon training would allow him and his titan to blend in and disappear within the cityscape and the surrounding areas. After all, deserts weren't places you could hide so easily, especially with a massive titan with you. Raylan is no stranger to operations within urban areas, or at least as urban as it got in the Frontier or here for that matter, could use this terrain to their advantage. Obviously being in a confined urban area had its drawbacks but considering they'd a choice between the city and open desert it was an obvious choice. Once there they could attempt to lose their pursers to a greater effect than they were currently. The deceptive tracks and anti-tracking countermeasures they'd used thus far were to only slow their opponents, not lose them. Raylan knew their enemies wouldn't give up the hunt any time soon, not until they had some kind of proof of their demise to warrant the mission being called off. Or their pursuers were eliminated first. He'd spent the majority of his time in the militia being tracked, hunted and engaged when on missions so this was nothing new to either him or his partner.

Except for the whole time travel situation of course. That was a **big** issue that would need attention sooner or later.

Time was their greatest asset in the field but they didn't have much when ones enemies were breathing down their neck. With space between one's enemies and yourself, it created time to prepare and think clearly instead of thinking in the here and now about survival.

"Pilot," RO began, "First priority should be to locate some sort of safe zone, a place for us to establish a camp." His titan explained, not that Raylan really needed it. Just stating the obvious for confirmation between the two partners. "We can only remain on the move for so long on the supplies we have." His concern mostly lay on his pilot, he knew he'd need rest and other supplies such as food and water. Those were concerns that would come around at some point but they'd become a priority sooner or later.

"Affirmative RO but we need to cover our tracks sufficiently. We can't take up a position if it'll be found so easily." Raylan countered, his concern still very much on their pursuers over his own needs. RO began to climb a rather steep sand dune causing Raylan to tighten his grip on his titans' frame, although he makes quick work of it, it was a shaky climb up. "We should attempt a recon of the area while using it as a way to hide our tracks, move throughout the city and confuse our enemies in the mess of places to go before finding a place to hunker down in temporarily." There was a brief pause before Raylan continued, "Make sure to keep your scanners on high alert, we don't know what we'll find in there."

"Understood pilot," RO replied as he finished climbing the sand dune, "Watch our backs." His titan added, to which Raylan only nodded in confirmation.

The pair were now at the edge of the devastated city, standing in the shade of the tall apartment complexes. Raylan dismounted his titan to walk alongside him, neither pair lingered, continuing inward into the depths of the region. Raylan only needed a quick glance to notice how bad the area was as well as how oddly and eerily quiet it was. Although he was a man who knew silence was a blessing especially when he used stealth in the field but it was worrying when the world was quiet around him. If there was something out there waiting for them, it would come in the form of an ambush.

"Raylan, my mapping systems have devised several routes for us to take." His titan informed him as they continued into the city, crossing over sand dunes and rubble as they did. "Several key points of interest have been added for you to examine." His titan stopped speaking, giving Raylan a chance to read over the scans. The titans gun slowly crossed the open areas as they moved, ready for any sudden movements. His scanners on high alert still.

RO was waiting to see where his pilot wanted to investigate first, the key points being a large forest area not far from their current locate, what appeared to be some kind of massive unidentified structure further out on the other side of the city, a large factory or industrial region, a coastal area that seemed to suggest part of the city had been flooded and was submerged whilst the last area of interest was a large desert expanse within the confines of the city and landscape. All of these locations stood out in a modern city such as this one, in particular, the large structure was something of note. It could be some sort of fortification or stronghold for them to hunker down in or perhaps it bellowed to this YoRHa organization, they just couldn't know for certain until the time came.

"For the time being let's recon the city streets, we're going to find a high vantage point so I can view the surrounding area if possible and map the region better." Raylan continued to walk alongside his titan, his L-Star rifle passing over some windows across the buildings in search of something. "Once we're done that the large unidentified structure and the forest region are the two areas we're going to recon first." Raylan giving his thoughts on the key locations RO had brought up. Although he didn't say it out loud it was obvious that Raylan wanted to focus on figuring out their current situation, the fact they'd time traveled and were now being hunted by unknown forces, but that would have to wait until they devised a better plan of attack.

RO knew immediately why Raylan chose those two locations over the others, as his partner it wasn't very hard to understand, a fortification could provide either valuable intel if there were occupants or a defensible location if they were to find the structure empty. As for the forest both Raylan and RO were well used to operating in the wilderness, they thrived in it at times. One could use it in an attempt to hide away from more secure urban areas or set ambushes, either being useful in their current situation.

Not that they didn't have much choice on the matter.

RO stopped moving and swiveled toward one direction, he didn't say anything to his pilot but he didn't have to.

"Something is watching us," Raylan said confirming ROs scans. The titan had detected movement but what grew caution was the fact they were so close. ROs systems didn't detect them at a distance meaning whatever it was that was closing in on them wasn't something ROs scanners were used to locating.

Raylan checked one side while RO checked the other, the pair stood in the middle of the street, surrounded by massive, mostly empty apartment complexes, sand covered the ground they stood on.

"Pilot," RO called out, "To your ten o'clock."

Raylan twisted in that direction to see three shapes leap out of the sand. They appeared to be rather small in size, the three of them wielding either spears or swords, they wore what looked like a recreation of a tribal face mask. There was no hesitation as Raylan identified the weapons in hand as well as the fact they weren't human. Raylan dropped to one knee and fired a burst at the closest target. The shots connected with the large head of the opponent penetrating it, killing it swiftly. The laser from the L-Star rifle Raylan was using proved to do significant damage against their aggressors.

The other two didn't react to the demise of one of their own, instead just rushing toward Raylan and RO. Their speed wasn't anything to worry about in Raylans opinion but he wouldn't underestimate them, he'd picture them being faster in his mind to force himself to stay sharp, so he swiftly fired off a burst at each of them, punching holes through their faceplates causing them to explode into pieces.

However, more just erupted out of the stand as the first three were dealt with, either reinforcements or they were apart of the attack from the start. It only took Raylan a second to realize what these things were, they were machines. Just as RO had mentioned in the data they'd recovered from YoRHa earlier.

" **Kiiilllll!** " Raylan heard as they all rushed toward the pair, the voices clearly not human in nature. It didn't even sound natural to begin with, a rather creepy voice in Raylans mind.

For ROs part he just stayed close to Raylan, watching over him, guarding him. RO didn't immediately make to fire on any of the machines, noticing they had only melee weapons, some swords, others had spears. He opted to save their limited ammunition for the time being, unless the threat to Raylan grew. RO used his massive weight as a weapon, swinging his fists and crushing opponents with his legs to destroy them. No matter the angle their attackers came from RO intercepted them and swiftly smashed them.

"Two more at eleven o'clock." His titan warned him, both targets being dealt with briskly after the warning. Raylan was making short work of a few himself, his rifle being strong enough to burn or punch holes through the machines faceplates however there were a lot of them so inevitably some machines managed to get close. This was where RO came in, however, using his massive frame he simply punched, crushed or stepped on any machines that ventured too close to Raylan. A few stray machines attempted to scale up ROs frame but he just pulled them off and crushed them in his grip.

Raylan briefly allowed the L-Star to cool for a moment before jump jetting onto his titans frame once again. "To your left!" He called out for his titan to which RO responded by slamming his entire arm into the small machine that had leaped at them which send shards and metal scrap tumbling across the ground. Raylan was using the height to his advantage managing to snipe a few distant targets, with surprising accuracy from an L-Star rifle, while RO began to push through the small waves of machines. All the while beeping and whines were heard from their attackers, whether dying or still fighting.

" **Eliminate!** " Another one cried out as he was crushed within the titans hand. This little ambush was proving to be rather tame, sure they had numbers but they weren't overwhelming, especially to something of ROs size. Their spears and swords couldn't harm him nor could they reach Raylan to actually attempt to hurt him.

" **DIE!** " Cried out one last machine as RO finished with a loud stomp, a savage crunching noise coming from under the titans foot.

Silence.

That's what followed after that final crunch. Raylan peered around them as RO place his scanners on high alert, both partners attempting to find any trace of some hidden attackers. However, they found none and in that time nothing new tried to jump them.

"Keep those systems on high alert, there could be more out there," Raylan instructed his titan as he lowered his L-Star and dropped off his partners' large frame. He moved over to the array of machine scrap that lay around them, their remains still smoking and sparking in some cases.

"Solid copy," RO replied as he followed behind his pilot, arming himself with his 40mm cannon just in case something were to appear to take a shot at Raylan.

Raylan knelt down to examine the remains of their ambushers, "Pilot, I suggest we don't stay here long. This battle had a high probability of attracting unwanted attention." His titan informed him, "We should keep moving."

Raylan just gave him a nod for confirmation as he quickly shifted through the metal scrap around them. He was mainly looking for two things, one was any form of scrap that looked like a communication link, something to listen in on if there was one but he was swiftly shut down on that idea once he'd found none. " _So no obvious way of communication, perhaps some kind of software network?_ " Raylan thought to himself.

However, he was successful on the second part, "RO," His pilot spoke up as he turned to him, a small glowing but broken core in his hand. "Analyze this and calibrate your sensors to be able to detect this power source. This should help your scanners pick up on machine signatures."

RO knelt down and used the small electronic gravity well in his hand to pull the core into the titans hand. "Analyzing." His titan informed him as Raylan did a quick survey of the area around them. "Complete." He swiftly added as he crushed the core in his hand. "Smart move pilot, my systems are calibrating this new data as we speak. My systems should be able to locate and detect these power signatures shortly."

"Alright," Raylan replied, "Let's move." Wordlessly RO opened his cockpit hatch and allowed Raylan to embark, his pilot now taking control once again. " _Let's not give our pursuers an easy chase._ " He thought to himself at the end.

Raylan wasted no time and piloted RO toward one of the side streets, their pace swift. For the time being, they just needed to get deeper into this vast city, attempt to remain undetected and plan accordingly.

However, something was left behind as the pilot and titan duo left the battlefield behind. Standing atop one of the apartment complexes was a little machine, even smaller than the ones the pair had demolished. It's little machine eyes traced the destruction, the broken machines and the path Raylan and RO had taken.

The image of Raylan and RO still fresh in its processing core, what the little machine had witnessed was now being stored within its memory. A brief moment of silence descended on the little machine, the only source of noise being the wind as he blew through the area.

Finally, the machine moved again on the spot, its eyes fixed on the way Raylan and RO had gone, a single word being spoken by its artificial voice.

" **Titan.** "

 **/_\**

9S was currently conflicted about the situation he'd been assigned. He followed behind two of his superiors, units 2D and 2B, as they crossed the sandy dunes and rocky outcrops in pursuit of their targets.

His unit was currently tracking YoRHas' most recently wanted individuals, a rogue android and a larger, never before seen machine that had accessed data regarding the humans on the moon.

2B and 2D lead the team on this manhunt, currently identifying and following tracks from the fugitives through the dunes, however, they had been slightly slowed. It appeared their target was adept at counter tracking measures, the trail cut out every so often but it didn't take them long to locate it and resume the chase.

"It appears they've decided to hide within the city if these tracks keep following its current path." 2D summarized the trail lead toward the abandoned apartment complex region of the city. Logically it made sense although they weren't going to go just by an assumption, they'd continue to track the target as they had been. "Although assumptions aren't confirmation," 2D added at the end of his statement.

9S mentally sighed, this wasn't the time to undermine himself or the mission. He would, of course, continue to question everything as new evidence came to light but he was still required to accomplish his mission. With that, he decided to join the conversation, slightly.

"Maybe we should consider sending units ahead to intercept the targets," 9S suggested to the group, only half involved in the discussion at the moment.

"Negative," 2D replied, his eyes surveying the city entrances, "Dividing the team will only weaken us, the fugitives were skilled enough to destroy two flight units from a disadvantageous position. We had air superiority and they still manage to escape, sending in two unprepared androids won't accomplish anything."

"I agree with unit 2D," 2B replied as they all climbed a small dune, closing in on the city whilst still on the trail, "We have gathered no data on the target behinds appearance, they could very well set a counter-ambush judging by the fact they use counter tracking measures. It would be better to take these individuals as a group, possibly even split _them_ up instead."

9S didn't respond, he just decided to allow 2B and 2B to continue speaking and strategizing with one another.

2D hummed in thought before speaking, "We should inform the Commander of the target's current whereabouts. If the Commander is going to send another team to hunt the target we should advise them of the search area." 2D explained to the duo with him to which both parties replied with an _agreed_.

2D pushed on ahead of the duo, he was about to contact one of the operators and update them on the current situation, this left 2B and 9S alone for a moment

"Spill it 9S," 2B turned to her comrade, 9S only slightly shifting on the spot as she did, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, why would there be?" 9S responded, however, judging by the fact 2B stepped closer to him his answer didn't sit well with her.

"Don't lie to me 9S, I know when something is up with you." 2B continued, she briefly turned in the direction of 2D to see he was in communication with his operator. "You're my partner 9S, I know when something is amiss with you."

9S didn't respond immediately but 2B added something to her statement. "You're usually more talkative."

That little addition caused 9S to smile, " _Good to know she notices these things about me._ " The scanner model thought to himself, he tilted his head for a moment.

"I'm just concerned," He paused for another second, "And confused about our mission." He explained to his partner, turning away from her as though he was buried in his own thoughts. "We know next to nothing about the situation or the target and yet we're going in as a death squad. No questions or reasoning, just execution." That was probably the part 9S hated the most, no sense of reasoning just elimination. He was a scanner model android, it was his job to understand things better, to better approach them in the future but this wasn't one of those situations.

"9S," 2B began, saying his name softer than expected before returning to a more neutral tone, "There isn't anything to question here, a threat to mankind has appeared right under our noses and secured perhaps the most valuable data we have within YoRHa. A scenario like this isn't one to be questioned, it's one to be dealt with swiftly and effectively."

2Bs argument sounded logical, and to nearly all androids it would be. A threat to humanity was no laughing matter, it always took top priority for all androids. However, that didn't help ease 9Ss mind. To him, there was more to it. " _Looking at the here and now as always 2B._ " The scanner model thought after hearing 2Bs view on the matter. That wasn't in any way an insult to 2B, in fact, he admired that about her sometimes. She always took things in her stride but it was always messy when she would miss the bigger picture.

For one, the fact it was a rogue android that was responsible for this irked him. He wasn't one to believe an android went rogue for no reason and he certainly didn't believe it was just a malfunction either. Someone would have noticed this individual acting differently, irrationally or were at least suspicious of this person.

"But 2B-" 9S was about to counter but was swiftly shut down.

"Enough 9S," Her tone not any harsher than it usually was during a mission, "Focus on the mission, eliminate the target. You can ask about the why after the target has been dealt with." His partner turned to see 2D finishing his conversation with his operator before glancing back to her partner, " _Don't do anything reckless 9S._ " The battle android thought to herself.

9S sighed in both frustration and acceptance, he knew there wasn't anything he could really say or do at the moment that would change anything. For the time being, he would act as instructed but by no means was he going to think as instructed.

He'd come to his own conclusions.

2D rejoined the group as he began to speak, "The Commander has been updated on our progress, although she'd rather we have the target eliminated by now she knew that wasn't a plausible possibility, she's please with the progress we've made. Currently, she has put another team together to aid us in the search, they're being deployed to the city as we speak. We'll have a total of ten units tracking our fugitive." His tone calm yet assertive, "We're to communicate with this second team in order to trap the target but otherwise each team if left to follow the orders of those leading them." 2D shifted his body and looked between the two androids once he'd finished speaking, simply getting an _understood_ from the both of them.

"Come on, we need to keep moving." 2B instructed as she moved past her partner and fellow team leader, "Let's not allow our target to put more distance between us." The pace she moved as just reinforcing her words, she was gone in a blink, already on the trail again.

" _I've never seen her so serious about a mission before._ " 9S thought as he moved to follow after her, " _Then again, she's always this serious…_ " The scanner model half-joked in his head.

2D took after the two partners but with his own thoughts. " _A rogue android with unknown motives and goals with intel, weapons, and skills to fend off YoRHa agents. Something's amiss here, this android doesn't sound like a rogue resistance android by any means. Too skilled for that, not to mention the fact they have some sort of machine working with them._ " The android grunted in irritation, a simplistic mission on the surface but was more worrying the more you thought about it. This rogue android and machine were a threat to YoRHa and his team and as a defender model android, that sort of thing didn't sit well with him.

The androids all focused back to the tracks they'd been following, questions and concerns came later.

A certain someone and his partner was priority one.

 **/_\**

It hadn't taken the group of three to reach the city, units 6H and 4G having caught up to the rest of the team during that time, the region of this vast devastated city they'd arrived at was the apartment complexes. Motionless and hollow at times.

The group had followed the tracks of the fugitives to this point but once they'd traveled slightly deeper into the complex of apartments they were greeted by an intriguing sight.

In the middle of one of the streets, covered in sand and rubble was what appeared to be the aftermath of a battle. Scattered across the ground were the remains of what appeared to be dozens of machines. You could spend weeks trying to count how many machines had been destroyed creating this about of carnage.

"Man," 4G began as she kicked his way through some of the scrap, weapons at the ready if something were to jump them, "This place is a junkyard."

"More like a graveyard," 2B replied as she cautiously examined the scrap heap, 9S behind her.

"The tracks lead us here," 9S stated to the group as they'd spread out, "Our target came through here." His pod was scanning over the remains of all the dead machines, "According to my pods' analysis these remains are new, only recently there was a battle here, it was likely the fugitive was here during the time of their demise. It's possible that they were the ones that engaged the machines." He stopped to think about the data the pod was collecting.

"So our rogue came through here and engaged these machines by chance?" 4G half concluded, she wandered around the outskirts of the destruction, observing the group as they investigated the scene. "Then let's get going then! I don't want this rogue android escaping us." 4G half stated half complained, her impatience clearly shown. She shook her weapon as she spoke, you could tell she really wanted to use it.

"I suspect it was an ambush," 2B added to their combined but brief investigation of the area, "These machines are known for that, they hide within the sand and wait. It's likely our target was the one ambushed here." She used one of her swords to push away some of the debris as she walked through the destruction.

"Is there a possibility that our target was injured?" 2D asked from his position further away from the group, arms crossed, waiting for 9Ss and 6Hs thoughts on the situation.

It was 6H that answered, "While we can't be certain there is nothing here that indicates either of our targets were injured, I believe they remained unscathed from the ordeal." 6H stood from her crotch. She'd knelt down to examine the scraps closer, "All these remains appear to only belong to these machines. The metal is warped, indicating they'd been crushed and slammed, along with burn marks from some kind of laser or plasma-based weapon, perhaps similar to the one that was used to destroy our flight units." The repair android concluded her analysis of the damage.

"Alright, alright," 4G chimed in, "So we know there was a fight here, can we in any way use that to locate our target?" It was becoming clearer by second that 4G really wanted to get a jump on tracking the target again.

"Patience 4G." Scolded 6H, her expression more like a puppy pouting than actually in any way threatening. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

4G just sighed but decided to shut up anyway. What could she say? She wanted some payback for being shot down in her flight unit earlier. " _These bastards are going to get it eventually, relax 4G. We'll get them._ "

"What say you 9S?" 2D asked after 4G and 6H finished their little exchange, "Anything of value to add?" He wanted to see if the more observant scanner model noticed something they'd missed among the chaos.

"I might," The scanner model began, putting a hand to his chin, "The fugitive more than likely engaged these machines after being ambushed and fled the scene." He explained to the group as a whole, each of them focusing in on 9S, "That doesn't add up, our fugitive should have known that if they were using this area as an escape route if they were familiar with the city."

"So your theory is our target is not from this region? Perhaps they crossed the desert and ended up here." 2D concluded after hearing the scanner model out. " _It's unknown if our rogue android is YoRHa or resistance yet, perhaps that's something we should investigate._ "

"Maybe we should inform the other team of this, they could possibly investigate the resistance camp and find out if there were any operations in the area, perhaps they had agents from outside this city come to assist," 6H suggested as she and 4G walked over to 2D. " _Maybe we should go, I might be able to see Devola and Popola._ "

"I agree, that is something we could look into if required," 2D replied to his comrades' suggestion.

"I've located some more tracks," 2B announced, gaining the rest of the groups' attention whilst cutting their discussion short. The team regrouped on her position and followed her gaze. "These match the tracks of the large machine associated with our main target, we can assume they're still together since we've got no evidence to indicate they've split up." However she gestured to another set of prints alongside it, "But these ones belong to a machine."

"It appears our target is being followed by more than just us." Her statement got mixed responses from each android.

2D was perhaps the most indifferent about it, alongside 2B. Nothing about the mission changed with this revelation.

" _Eh, more destruction is fine with me._ " 4G thought to herself, getting a slight kick out of the idea of being the one to ambush this rogue android whilst they were fending off a small horde of machines.

6H was more concerned than anything else, she was not thrilled that they could very easily run into hostiles while on the trail of their target. Not only would it slow them down but if they were too brash and charged ahead they could end up with someone getting injured.

However, 9S had a completely different train of thought compared to his comrades. A few questions came to mind, " _So our target is not only being hunted by YoRHa but also the local machine life? This android has to have some allies, you don't go making enemies of YoRHa alone, that's a death sentence. They have to have allies or contacts somewhere within the city limits, perhaps allies within the resistance? Our target decides to come to a city or region they're unfamiliar with and then make enemies with YoRHa?"_ 9S mentally sighed, " _That doesn't add up…_ "

Everyone's responses were cut short however as 2B once again took charge. "We're moving out, we've wasted enough time here." She stated before gesturing for the group to follow her, which they all did with no resistance.

Except for a single moment, 9S lagged behind. As brief as it was, he swiftly moved to catch up to the rest of his team.

 **/_\**

Raylan and RO had made it out of the apartment complex region of the city, they'd managed to reach a more _normal_ area, well as normal as it can be when it's as empty and destroyed as it was. While this area was more open to walk across in some areas and you could easily spot them if they weren't careful they knew they had better places to hide within these buildings over the apartment complexes. For one, RO could actually fit inside the majority of them and secondly, Raylan could get a better lay of the land if they found a suitable vantage point.

They entered a small clearing along their small and slightly hidden path, it was a bit of trouble for RO to push through some obstacles but they'd made it this far.

This small clearing among the mess of buildings was surprising to Raylan, who disembarked from his titan. What greeted the partners was a small grassy and slightly rocky opening in the city but a small waterfall fell through the area, creating a small river that flowed deeper into the city.

It was a pleasant sight in this destroyed city.

"Pilot," RO broke the rather peaceful silence, not that Raylan cared. He wouldn't allow himself to be distracted by mere sights. "I'm detecting machine life forms scattered throughout the city." He warned/informed his pilot, "By analyzing their numbers and movement patterns it appears these machine life forms are not searching for us. They seemed to remain mostly to certain areas and do not patrol to far. I doubt that would be true if we were spotted."

"Understood, we'll avoid being detected if possible but I want to know more about what we're up against," Raylan replied as he moved over to the river, his L-Star rifle still slowly survey possible hiding spots, his titan following close behind.

"Solid copy, all data gathered will be analyzed outside of battle to help improve our combat efficiency," RO replied, his scanners and weapons still examining the area around them both.

They needed intel on their enemies if they were going to survive this, so far they'd only encountered two types of enemies, the small machine life forms that both Raylan and RO concluded would use swarm tactics to defeat their enemies and the other was the airborne foes they'd fought, which they believed belonged to YoRHa, shortly after time traveling.

But ROs data said there would be far more types of enemies that they would come across. So the more data the better.

This brief moment of peace allowed Raylan to think, to plan.

It was rather simple if you thought about it, currently, they were tasked with simply surviving the wilderness and find a place to establish a camp. Once they found any way to communicate with humans they'd take it and find their way to make regroup with them. Once that happened they could learn more about the world and what truly occurred, from the invasion of humanity to how the world was now.

But ultimately they both knew they had one final goal.

Figure out how they'd traveled through time and find a way back if they could.

Raylan glanced down to his wrist to the time-traveling device that was mounted there. His only reaction was to sigh in acceptance as he thought, " _I have a feeling it won't be so simple…_ "

Time travel was never going to be simple to figure out.

He stood from his kneeling position and turned to his titan, "Alright, we're going to attempt to lose our pursuers by navigating through back streets and cutting through and over buildings." Raylan told his titan, "Watch our backs."

"Copy that Pilot," His titan responded as he began to walk alongside his pilot. "I'll inform you of anything of interest as it comes up."

Let's see what they could discover and meet in this city.

* * *

 _Sorry for the delays but it happens. I won't bore you with the details._

 _Here's the chapter, nothing too special yet but we're getting to that soon. Depending on how I work things around or how long the next chapter is I might be introducing a character next update, not an OC but one from the Nier game/universe._

 _Wish Raylan luck cause he's going to need it regardless of what happens._

Any questions for me? PM me or leave a review, thanks.

 _Review Responses:_

 _JlKAuthor: Thanks, good to know you appreciated those details._

 _Silver Prime: Glad to see you enjoyed it._

 _Peanuckle: It's a new twist, in my opinion, not many people have the androids hunt humans._

 _Cj32 (Guest): Thank you._

 _Bruce USSR: Sorry for the delays but here you go._

 _Zombiedudecolletti: Thanks for reading._

 _Xxtanzeelxx: 10/10 Review._

 _Captain Orion Zete: I'm not dead, just busy with college and work._

 _Tomkatan: Appreciate it the thumbs up for the story._

 _Aron (Guest): Thanks, hope this chapter was to your liking too._

 _Prometheus-G747: Thanks for the huge response. To start, the whole androids hunting humans seemed like an interesting concept simply because of the situation that would need to arise for something like that to even happen in the first place. Raylan was rather unlucky with how things went down. The Commander might or might not suspect something is a miss but as far as she is concerned this is a threat that needs to be dealt with. At the moment it's elimination but that could change over the course of the story due to Raylan's actions or other theories the androids come up with. RO wasn't really hacking, it was more his systems were never excluded from YoRHas so he had access until they realized they didn't recognize him, then he got tossed out of it. With the squad, I'll attempt to have more interactions between the members as well as have them be more individualistic, having their own thoughts and ideas. Finally, thanks for the review, I appreciate the support._

 _I've rambled on long enough so I'll wrap this up. Thanks for reading, see y'all in the next chapter of Survive! (And possibly Assess, Adapt, Survive.)_

 _AlcatrazDGold - Peace!_


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